Saint Hubert’s Chapel at the Château d'Amboise: A Jewel of Stone Goldsmithery Now Restored

During a tour of the Touraine region in 1847 with writer and photographer Maxime Du Camp, Gustave Flaubert fell under the romantic spell of the old Château d'Amboise, and went into raptures over "the chapel, a work of the 16th century [sic], chiseled from every angle, a positive jewel of lapidary goldsmithery, even more beautifully worked inside than out, cut out like sugared almond box paper, with openwork carving like the handle of a Chinese parasol.” “And that was precisely Charles VIII's idea!" says Étienne Barthélemy, Chief Architect of the Monuments Historiques and Project Manager for the Saint Hubert’s Chapel restoration project. “At that time, architects and goldsmiths worked in close collaboration. The finest pieces were produced in 1500 in the Kingdom of France, the Netherlands, Burgundy and Italy." Built between 1492 and 1493 in the Late  Gothic style, the chapel is made of tufa, a soft stone that lends itself to every kind of exuberance. And Charles VIII pulled out all the stops, calling for lavish use of the flamboyance typical of the late Middle Ages, and also…